Independent Living PA

Listening and Responding

• Youth said that they do not feel that they are really listened by their workers or their child advocates. Not only are calls not returned, but no one really listens and responds when something in wrong

Oversight of Foster Homes and Working with Biological Families

• Youth expressed many concerns about safety in foster homes. They felt that there is little supervision of foster parents and they suffer because of this.
• They wondered why DHS did not spend more time working with their own families.

Being Treated like “Regular” Kids

• Youth stated that they wish the system treated them like the “regular” kids they are. They wanted to know why they cannot sleep over at friends, participate in activities like their friends, speak on the phone.
• Youth were frustrated with point systems and levels and did not feel they reflected how to live in the real world or respected their maturity.

Grievances Policy

• Youth were concerned that the grievance policy that DHS is going to set up would not respond quickly enough, especially to younger kids.
• Youth suggested that if youth were not made part of the process both in investigating and evaluating grievances, it is unlikely that the process would really be useful to kids in the system.

More Services for Youth 18 and Older

• Youth really like the services at AIC, but want there to be more centers like AIC and for the services to be available past age 21. They talked about the need for a services and support even past age 21 because some youth do not have family or others in their lives able to show them the way.
• Youth talked about the need for more housing opportunities, like Valley Youth House and of the experience of being discharged and out on the street.

Court

• Youth said that they wanted to be able to go to court and that they were not being taken or told when they go that they cannot talk.
• Youth said that they wanted to go to court and be able to participate. One youth said that older youth are listened to in O court and that youth should attend because they will be heard.

Families and Homes

• Youth described the importance of finding a home where you can feel comfortable and loved rather than a “placement.” Some youth felt that if they had gotten that love and stability when they were younger, they may not face so many challenges today.

Youth Perspectives on the DHS Town Hall Meeting

Town Hall Meeting: Take 1

"On the evening of Thursday September 20th 2007 I attended a Town Hall meeting at the AR Center, 7th and Market Sts. The Town Hall meeting is a meeting led by the Commissioner of DHS and other DHS employees to hear kids concerns, suggestions, and complaints, experiences, both good and bad, about being in the system or should I say DHS.

For those of you who are reading this and have no idea what DHS is, let me define exactly what it is. DHS stands for the Department of Human Services. Their mission is to “protect children from abuse, neglect, and delinquency, to ensure the children’s safety and permanency in nurturing home environments, and to strengthen and preserve families by enhancing community-based prevention services”. That is taken straight from the DHS web site. Too bad that their words speak louder than their actions. If you by any chance went on the DHS web site you can notice that it has a very friendly atmosphere but in reality to allot of kids that’s been a part of DHS they would disagree. Just hearing that word gives me the chills. No one really understands what it is like to be a kid in DHS unless you are or were one at one point in your life. A lot of adults will often claim that they understand and that they know what is best for the kids but they don’t know. Growing up in DHS is probably one of the most challenging and most difficult things to have to go through in life. Especially at such a young age. And some of it can be very traumatizing at times.

At the Town Hall Meeting a lot of kids that are currently in DHS, or have been in DHS, had a chance to voice their concerns, complaints, experiences and suggestions on ways to make a positive difference and change in DHS. They touched on a variation of issues ranging from education to housing, family and sibling visitation to unfit and unsafe living arrangements and the lack of communication between the kids and their workers. It really took a lot of courage for the kids to speak out and share their experiences. I even got up enough courage to voice out my concerns, limited to only one due to an excessive amount of various energy drinks that I had consumed through the course of my day which led to extreme nervousness, and the vibe that I was getting wasn’t making things any easier either.

Well anyway, I really do think that some of the DHS employees had no intention of wanting to be in the same room as us kids and had no intentions of answering or taking heed to what the kids had to say. The only reason why they were probably there was to put in some overtime. They seemed to be very unresponsive and didn’t answer a lot of the questions and problems that was being stated. “I’m sorries” were the most spoken words from DHS that evening. Growing up in DHS kids tend to hear that a lot, to us it doesn’t mean anything. There was one DHS employee who worked for them for about 27 years I think and now they are just taking action to the problems and challenges that is occurring. 27 years of nothing. Why now, why not years ago. If nothing was being done before than why should we believe that things will be done now.

Its up to us kids to make a positive difference and change the way DHS is running things. We understand the struggles, the challenges and the problems that kids are facing and going through when they are in DHS. It’s a hardknock life, not everything is all picture perfect like they make it out to be. If it was you wouldn’t be reading this, now would ya?!"

DHS Town Hall Meeting on Older Youth in Foster Care: Part Two

On October 23rd, 2007, DHS held a second town hall meeting to discuss its plans to address the concerns raised by older foster youth at the first town hall meeting in September.

The purpose of this Town Meeting was to focus on what does work rather than what does not work. Youth introduced themselves shared one positive experience they had while in foster care. Many youth cited positive experiences with staff from the Achieving Independence Center, several youth spoke about positive relationships with caseworkers, foster parents, or kinship care providers.

Following the introductions, DHS Deputy Commissioner Joe Kuna announced DHS’s plan to hold “roundtables,” or meetings, with older foster youth. Youth are to participate in these roundtables as partners and work with DHS to create policies and programs that address their needs.

DHS presented what they identified as youth priorities. There was some disagreement about the identified priorities.

• First, youth noted that the priorities listed as “youth priorities” did not actually reflect their priorities. The list presented at the meeting was developed after the first town hall meeting. Staff counted the number of times a particular issue was mentioned and then ranked the various issues by frequency of comment.
• Second, youth were not comfortable with using DHS priorities rather than their own, as the guiding priorities driving the efforts at reform.

The following chart was distributed at the meeting listing youth and DHS priorities side by side.

Youth Priorities (in order by frequency of comment at the first town hall meeting)	DHS Older Youth Initiative Work Plan Priorities
1. Concerned by lack of follow-up and resolutions leading to feelings of disrespect and disregard Older youth feelings of not being heard or being treated as “another piece of paper” Repeated feedback from youth does not seem to effect change in practice	1. Involving youth in system change Create ongoing role for a youth advisory panel to work directly with DHS leadership Prepare team member to effectively work on priorities Consumer Satisfaction Team work to highlight differences between policy and practice
2. Limited contact with and lack of response from DHS social worker DHS social workers frequently do not return phone calls Young people have an expectation of relationship with DHS worker who is making decisions about their future	2. Building supportive Transitional Living to prepare for independence Create a more supportive SIL program
3. Improving safety and quality of foster families for older youth Foster parents need to be screened Foster homes often do not feel like home to youth	3. Support for parenting youth Parenting preparation for mothers and fathers Appropriate guidance for parenting youth across levels of care
4. Enhance Discharge Planning, Board Extensions, and Aftercare Resources AIC is not enough to prepare youth for independence; need more opportunities Want wraparound services after discharge—other programs and support	4. Direct communication Roll out Youth Handbook as a tool for youth Reasonable way for DHS to address individual youth complaints and concerns efficiently Consider developing peer mentoring group helping others navigate the system
5. More effective Life Skills and opportunities to connect with local community and resources “Real world” budgeting and Life Skills Earlier preparation so youth can practice before they are out on their own	5. Improving Life Skills preparation Training for provider to do practical Life Skills work with youth in home settings Support youth participation in community activities
6. Emphasis on maintaining or re-establishing family connections with youth	6. Older youth planning Youth led planning for transition; inclusive of family and other adults important to young person Role for older youth in sibling planning Support youth links to family; assist in linking “lost” family important to youth
7. Educational guidance and support Seeking guidance and support for High School/GED completion before discharge Higher Ed support	7. Education/development of education support center Facilitating assessments and transfers Providing information and guidance to providers, youth, and caregivers
	8. Foster Parent Recruitment, Support, and Evaluation Quality of foster homes is recognized as concern

Because youth did not feel that the priorities presented by DHS were necessarily the most important issues to address, there was a compromise: Roundtables will be convened for the top three DHS priorities:

1. Involving youth in system change.
2. Building supportive transitional living programs.
3. Support for parenting youth.

AND

Additional roundtables will be convened based on preferences youth expressed at the second town hall meeting. Youth signed up to participate at the roundtables they were most interested in.

DHS announced that the next town hall meeting will be held in 3 months, at which point the roundtables will report back to the larger group on their progress.

Stay Tuned.

South East Youth Advisory Board: Meeting Minutes
11/14/07 4:30 – 7:30

Introductions

Youth Summit Update

• Jamele discussed the Youth Summit 2007: Partner for Change. The Youth Summit will take place on March 25th and March 26th. Youth will attend workshops and make recommendations for change in the system.

Richard Gold, Deputy Secretary

• Forming committee of youth and parents to make recommendations for change in the system. More details will follow.

County Updates

Philadelphia

• December 7th – AIC is invited to VYH holiday party
• Spoke to law students at Temple Law School
• Spoke at Deliverance Church
• Spoke to therapeutic foster home parents
• VYH Speaking Engagement
• Spoke to adoption and other caseworkers at SWAN/IL Quarterly Meeting
• Town Hall Meetings with Commissioner of DHS
• Talked about what we needed at first town meeting – about 40 youth showed up
• Second meeting – got onto committees to change DHS
• Synopsis is on YAB website
• If interested in learning more contact Emily

Bucks

• Wrote a letter of support to all Bucks’ Representatives – letter discussed how it is difficult for foster care youth to maintain a full time job and stay in school, lack of support from parents, compared our situations to other youth from stable families – how foster care youth have it very hard and need support.
• Statistics were included in letter such as the drop-out rate among foster care youth, etc.
• Act 101 – there are new guidelines being proposed for ACT 101 programs that need to be examined because they may affect the number of youth that can access ACT 101 services
• ACTION – need to have youth write letter on why it is important to keep ACT 101 services fully intact
• Christy
• Serena
• Shaheed
• JLC will research how each county and regional YAB can effectively comment on the proposed changes

Delaware

• Doing life skills groups

Fostering Independence through Education Act

• Bill was introduced today in congress
• Tuition Waiver – means former or current foster care youth will not have to pay tuition at schools in the state system of higher education.
• Philadelphia Youth spoke with Representatives and advocated for bill
• Currently reaching out to college campuses and newsletters
• Bill was referred to Children and Youth Committee
• They need to pass it through their committee so it can be voted on by the entire House
• ACTION – Serena, Lena, Jahnte, Dana, Shaheed, Jamele volunteered to write letter to representatives
• Go to independentlivingpa.org – click on legislative news section to figure out what reps are in your district
• Reasons for Supporting Legislation
• FC youth cannot get loans
• More youth would be wanting to stay on campus and it would save money for IL programs
• Opens doors toward independence – more people will get college education and decrease negative statistics
• Ticket to work – only helps find employment when on SSI – doesn’t help with education
• What happens with youth when they are on college breaks? Where do they go? The bill doesn’t provide for that but each
• county can use Chafee Room and Board dollars.
• The bill will make higher education institutions responsible for reporting drop out rate and why they dropped out What will be the impact on non-foster care youth? Will their tuition go up? What happens if it backfires?
• It doesn’t need to draw from tuition – universities have foundations, endowments, etc. to pull the money from
• Number of foster care students going to college is and needing the tuition waiver is very small per institution and would not have dramatic impact on tuition
• JLC will be looking for youth to testify on behalf of the bill

Create Your "Self", Shape Your Story

• Purpose of workshop
• Teach us how to control our emotions in order to talk to caseworkers and others
• Help improve self-image

• Breathing Exercise
• 10 deep breaths
• Helps change energy in room

• Focus Questions
• What do you care about the most in life?
• What are reasons for wanting to handle your emotions?
• Have you ever been in a situation where you were having a hard time communicating your needs to an impatient social worker?
• Can you recall a time when you had an emotional breakdown because of things that have happened in the past?
• Has there ever been a time in which you felt no one made time to listen to what you were going through?

• Listening and Appreciative Responsive
• Just listen to someone without giving advice or making judgments
• Then, once they are done speaking, thank them and tell them what you appreciated about them sharing
• Felt good to have someone listen to me
• Good to practice with people in your life – helps you recognize things and understand peoples' way of life

• Positive Self-Image is Necessary
• Need to know yourself and love yourself
• You control your future – not someone else

What worked well?

• Helpful for youth and staff
• Workshop was phenomenal, helpful
• Youth being responsible for running the meeting was good – would like to continue and perhaps receive more support on how to facilitate meetings and partner with staff on YAB

What didn’t work

• Too hot
• Need bigger meeting space

What would we change?

• Do different type of workshops each time
• Could pick series of topics and do poll on YAB website
• Stress, time management, coping skills, facilitation, how to work on a committee
• The host county should be responsible for planning workshop